About Me

I'm just me - a solitary wanderer who trekked across much of the world and recently retired to a small farm in the Ozarks.
My checkered past includes time spent as an Army officer, high school teacher and principal, real estate broker, child protection worker and administrator, and social worker with the U.S. military.
Over the years I have resided in a variety of places including Missouri, Virginia, Okinawa, Kansas, Kentucky, and Arizona. I have also traveled to Germany, Mexico, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Great Britain, Belize, Guatemala, Taiwan, Guam, South Korea, Vietnam, and numerous islands in the Caribbean - including Cuba.
I have ridden in a Russian ambulance, hitch-hiked across Moscow late at night, fought an ostrich, celebrated New Year's at a street party in Hanoi, and bicycled across the Caribbean. My travels have taken me to Ground Zero in Hiroshima, the Bolshoi Ballet, China Beach, and the White House kitchen.
The nine things in life that I am most proud of are my children: Nick, Molly, and Tim, and my grandchildren: Boone, Sebastian, Judah, Olive, Willow, and Sullivan.
Life has been very good to me indeed!

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

The Age of Ignorance

by Pa RockCitizen Journalist

A group of evangelical Christians are at work in Texas
trying to browbeat the Texas Board of Education into not approving use of a
particular biology textbook in Texas schools.A voluntary (and unnamed) reviewer has concluded that the text contains errors
that need to be corrected by the publisher.Those errors, not surprisingly, are references to evolution indicating
that it is based on legitimate science.The complainants would rather their children, and everybody else’s
children, be taught the creation story from the Bible.

The Pew Research Center released the results of a new survey
this week which reflected America’s thinking on evolution, and, not surprisingly,
the findings fell along party lines – and it showed that the divide is
increasing dramatically.

In 2009 54% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats committed to
the idea that humans have evolved over millions of years as a species here on earth.When the same question was recently posed by
Pew in 2013, the Democratic percentage had increased to 67% and the Republican
percentage of those believing in the theory of evolution had dropped eleven
points to just 43 percent.(Texas
Republicans, one must assume, would come in even lower.)

The Pew Center was at a loss to explain the precipitous drop
other than to suggest some of the better educated Republicans may have shuffled
over to the “independent” category.

Republicans are clearly expressing some discomfort with the
notion of science.Another barometer
gauging the GOP’s trust (or lack thereof) in science is climate change and
global warming.That may be a bit more
understandable because talks on ways to curb global warming invariably lead to
discussions of limiting greenhouse gases – a process that would most certainly
place some curbs on transportation and manufacturing.Republicans are quick to defend their base –
big corporations – and the titans of business repay that kindness with cold,
hard cash.

Recent data from the Pew Center puts the number of Americans
who believe the earth is getting warmer at 67 percent.In 2009 35% of Republicans, 53 percent of
independents, and 75% of Democrats said there is solid evidence that the
earth’s temperatures are rising.The
2013 findings on the same question show increases in all three groups – even
Republicans.Those figures are 50% for
Republicans, 62% for independents, and 88% for Democrats.

But here is the kicker:The Tea-Bagger Republicans, the ones who turn out in droves for the
primaries and choose their party’s candidates for the general elections – 41% of
those folks parrot Rush Limbaugh and say that global warming is just not
happening, and another 28% say that not enough is known yet.

The Republican Party’s seeming rejection of science as its
members who should know better pander to the likes of Sarah Palin, Rush
Limbaugh, and the phony hillbillies of Duck Dynasty, only helps to seal its
doom.The Grand Old Party will surely
march into the abyss of insignificance while holding high its banner of
ignorance.

1 comment:

Pure irony! By steadfastly clinging to a Dark Ages model explaining humanity from a historic perspective, today's modern Republican is trending towards becoming the intellectual equivalent of Neanderthal Man.

Sure, DNA analysis can find the links to the Neanderthal among us. We don't see this creature anymore. Likewise, future historians, political scientists, and sociologists will be able to point students to the footnotes explaining the rise, prevalence, and demise of the Grand Old Party. Their steadfast clinging to the Dark Age models on a vast array of topics hastens their exit as a political party.